A Poem About Cell Respirations

Fair in 1946 ...



"Between Mont-de-Fosse and Saint-Jacques, only three houses, that of pastor and teacher included
...
Nothing extraordinary in this isolated corner, otherwise known as the Fair of Saint-Jacques, celebrated in the country, and every year, mobilizes, July 25, Ardenne whole Aywaille La Roche, Stavelot Houffalize.

Despite wars, revolutions, political upheavals, she bravely stood the test of centuries.

Fair has played an important role in the Middle Ages. A high pole at the edge of the fir that the location bar which circumscribes the picturesque market reminds us in a curious inscription. During the reign of the Prince-abbots of Stavelot they had the privilege to release a criminal on this site, the day of the fair. The ceremony

popular because it is an event for the whole country, takes place in a vast meadow lying near the hamlet of Bergeval. What a lovely name! Throughout its range, hundreds and hundreds of cattle, horses, poultry, pigs. Alongside this rich living, teams of any kind, since the old wheelbarrow and chariot ancestral to the cars to sedans, the pride of wealthy peasants.






Then, shops and stalls in the open air, with bottles bellied shimmering gold and victuals too tempting and varied: ceramic, stuffed buns, fried brown in a pot inexhaustible tardes rice as cart wheels, barley sugar, waffles, beer, sparkling pastries to "Glet" most gourmets, an avalanche of nougat cut by a voluble Carabouya as stylish as ... "Ladies and Gentlemen, I Carabouilla, nougat, nougat, good character, never married, never stepmother, never quarrel in the house. "

Besides, needs of households and farms: aprons for women and children, fake jewelry, silk scarf, mousetraps, fancy carpets called Persia, umbrellas the merchant to the wonder of the crowd deploys and returns in all directions, a virtuoso, old irons, sticks, clubs, jackets, tools, compasses, Secretary of lovers, books revenue healing all ills, harrows, sickles, harness, plows, ...

hours s' sell on the fairgrounds ... The auction bend gradually. Showmen dismantle their shacks. The musicians at the end blast, put away their horns. When the show goes off, loneliness comes into possession of an area that men have borrowed within a 25 July.

And so, under the gaze lenient and tolerant of his revered pastor the old Ardenne reasserts itself. "


TEXT: Albert Bonjean, Nostalgic the Ardennes, ed. Ch Vinche, Verviers 1946.

PHOTOS: Archives Committee of Saint-Jacques, private donations. The photos date from the 50's - early 60's.
1: In front of the old church (demolished in 1961)
2: Livestock
3: Gambling
4: The crowd
5: Gambling


Extension:

1. In an article by Dr. PF LOMRY , we learn that there are, according to him, a connection between where were celebrated the pagan cults and those where the birth took the oldest fairs. He wrote about Saint-Jacques: "How to explain the presence of a church and a fairground in the same lonely place other than the substitution of Christian worship at a Druidic cult, with the persistence of trade indispensable religious ceremonies of paganism? "

2. A name was given to the fair:" Lu was drilled celiches "Fair Cherry ...

3. The fair, as presented in 1946, has permanently discontinued in the mid 70 . The fairground is more, a holiday village is located.

4. The fair was given to the agenda in 2001 ... But this is the subject of another article ...